Profit Taking Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Wednesday's holiday for the Qingming Festival, the China stock market had tracked higher in four straight sessions, gathering more than 65 points or 2.2 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,310-point plateau although it's expected to open in the red on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower amid waning momentum and a lack of catalysts. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are expected to open to the downside.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from the financial shares and resource stocks were offset by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index added 16.16 points or 0.49 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,312.56 after moving as low as 3,290.99. The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 9.66 points or 0.45 percent to end at 2,139.37.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China strengthened 1.57 percent, while Bank of China spiked 2.08 percent, China Construction Bank jumped 1.68 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.26 percent, Bank of Communications collected 1.37 percent, China Life Insurance perked 0.18 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.30 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 2.36 percent, Yankuang Energy slid 0.17 percent, PetroChina soared 2.83 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) surged 4.14 percent, Huaneng Power dropped 0.95 percent, China Shenhua Energy climbed 1.15 percent, Gemdale skidded 1.04 percent, Poly Developments was up 0.21 percent, China Vanke retreated 1.69 percent, China Fortune Land declined 1.21 percent and Beijing Capital Development slumped 1.29 percent.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be inconsistent as the NASDAQ and S&P opened under pressure on Wednesday and remained that way throughout, while the Dow stayed mostly positive.

The Dow gained 80.34 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 33,482.72, while the NASDAQ tumbled 129.47 points or 1,07 percent to end at 11,996.86 and the S&P 500 sank 10.22 points or 0.25 percent to close at 4,090.38.

The uptick by the Dow was partly due to a strong gain by shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), with the healthcare giant surging by 4.5 percent after the company announced it has agreed to pay $8.9 billion over 25 years to settle outstanding claims.

Meanwhile, concerns about the economic outlook weighed on the NASDAQ and the S&P following the release of disappointing data.

Payroll processor ADP said that private sector employment increased less than expected in March. And the Institute for Supply Management said growth in U.S. service sector activity slowed much more than expected last month.

Oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday as worries about economic slowdown outweighed data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.10 at $80.61 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see March results for its services and manufacturing PMIs from Caixin later this morning; in February, their scores were 55.0 and 51.6, respectively.